I found this hilarious....

I think that spot on housing & filter was put there on purpose. It allows you to easily see if the filter is loosened or tightened from the original position. Good mechanic.

I use a paint pen on all of my suspension and steering fasteners after torquing them so that I can later quickly check them to make sure they are still tight.

 

FTFY

 

I never thought of that... Now that you say it, it makes sense.

Good catch

 

It's good to see someone happy with their work and making their customers happy. I wish the best of luck to this tech and hope s/he doesn't lose his/her enthusiasm for the job.

I wish there were more apprenticeship programs here in the states. It seems to mostly apply to the construction trades. Most of the guys I met in the industry were either self taught, did similar work in a foreign country or graduated from a very expensive 2 year course at a private school. It would have been nice if everyone was on the same page, but it does provide for a crew with diverse experience. Are you guys flat rate up there as well?

 

So it's wam, bam thank you ma'am on alignments, but you take your time on everything else?

 

Shops can be both flat rate and hourly. That is decided by the business not the government.

 

I was thinking I shouldn't dignify this with a response but what the hell. I don't wam bam alignments out. The shop still has to make money so hourly tech that work efficienly and have little comebacks develope a reputation and are paid accordingly. If your one of those customers, and you are, that wants to pay as little as possible and use as much time from the shop as possible you won't be coming to our shop. Go see "Joe's Garage" and get your $59 alignment. Your not the customer we want. But if you want the most updated and best equipment possible with the best trained techs them you will pay more. Alignment will get done quickly and be done right the first time.

I can belive I actually wasted my time responding to that question. It's guys like you that make me feel I should never have reveled I was a tech but it's in my nature to help so I like to participate on this form.

 

I was thinking the spot on the housing and filter was to make sure it did not loosen. I really appreciated it when I saw it.

It is amazing that something so simple can make you feel like someone actually took pride in their work and took care of your truck.

 

I take a scribe and mark it with an "X" ...

 

It's contradicting, that's why I asked. Don't assume anything about me just because I expect decent work to be performed on my vehicle(like everybody else does). I pay a FAIR rate for an alignment performed by an efficient tech who can get the job done in the time allotted without cutting corners(toe&go).

We all like getting techs like the one OP posted about. Be more like that guy.

 

I take the "wam bam" as an insult to my profession. I do alignment quickly and right and you "assume" I "wam bam" them out the door. You say "don't assume anything about me" but you assume everything about myself.

I'm done with this and I shouldn't have dignified the likes of you with a response.

 

It's the internet man. I wouldn't take anything to heart. Someone you will likely never meet said something about what you do for work? In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't make any difference to your life. Relax and enjoy what you do. The only people's opinions I would be concerned about are the ones I'm getting paid by.

 

"I never thought of that... Now that you say it, it makes sense."

It isn't a paint pen, it is torque stripe. Used it on Apaches in the Army, use it today on the fans for vertical wind tunnels. Your lear should have it all over the place. It resembles cake icing. Comes in little tubes. All sorts of different colors. For certain applications, a paint pen works very well. For hardware that will be removed, torque strip is much easier to remove so that when the hardware is reinstalled or replaced, you don't have misaligned paint pen marks.

That tech really went the extra mile.

Derek V

 

Techs put a scribe mark like that to show it the filter has been tampered with. If someone tries to take it off it breaks the paint line and the shop can tell if someone has removed the filter. Lots of tech will also paint the drain plug. The way it will show if someone has removed the drain plug because the wrench will leave marks in the paint. Every once in a while you will get customers that claim that the shop messed up on an oil change looking to get a new engine.

 

My dealer, Toyota Knoxville treats me pretty well. I had a complaint that when changing out my front wheel bearings, which I did myself, a couple of lug nuts were cross threaded on the front.
Two studs broke, on the old hubs, thank goodness, and I had to replace a couple of lug nuts. When I mentioned this to the service manager, and told him that I thought that the only people who had ever removed my wheels for tire rotations was them, he immediately apologized for the inconvenience, even though there was NO proof that their guys had done anything wrong. On that service, he didn't charge for the cabin air filter, and I believe, the engine air cleaner filter, just to make up for the problem and to cover the cost of the deep well lug nuts I need with my Pacer Wheels..

 

I'll bet you money, if you look under the truck, the drain plug probably has a paint drop on it same as the oil filter!
Unfortunately, some shops implement this policy after a motor failure from no oil, most lube shops will do this so a customer can't drain out the oil, and get the shop to replace the motor.
However, I think your dealer does it as a sign of good service, and to cover their ass as well!

 

Calm down, Sally. I was just giving you shit about your alignment technique.

 

Had my 10,000 mile oil change done this morning at the dealer. Asked for the same mechanic who did it the first time (Gus), they obliged, also asked them to not move the seat, same. I'm very happy with the service as I imagine it's not easy dealing with a person like me OCD. Before anybody starts, if I could stop being OCD I would of yesterday it sucks

 

Meh, you did kinda have that kind of response coming to you. You did go digging around for other posts in other threads to try and embarrass him. YMMV

 

That's pretty awesome. I took my 2011 (when I had it) to the dealer twice for the "free" maintenance. Was supposed to include oil change and tire rotation. I marked one of the tires and after over an hour waiting my truck was finally finished. As you can guess... tire was still in the same place. I asked the service manager if the tires had been rotated? He said yes and it was even notated on the invoice they gave me. I walked him out and asked him "then why is this chalk mark on the same tire, same side, and same wheel as it was when I brought it in???" They took it right back in and rotated the tires. I gave them the benefit of doubt and took it one more time. Same exact fucking thing. I walked him back out and asked him the exact same question. Same response. I told him this was the second time this happened. "Did you even change the oil or did you just drive it through the service bay?" I've no way of knowing? So I said fuckit. I'll do all my own maintenance from this point out. Free isn't free when it isn't done. I've never let anyone touch my truck since I bought it new in 13. At least I KNOW it's done and done correctly.

I'm glad to hear there are still some good dealers out there.